Crate



2 Sheets'-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

L. MASON 8v G. B. SHAFER.

CRATE. No. 374,612. Y Patented Dec. 13, 1887. 'K`

WITNESSES y INVENTUM Y' .Attorney UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LovANE MAsoN AND oHARLEs B.v sHAEEn, or eAsroRr, NEW YORK.

CRATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374.612. dated December13| 1887- Applicatiou filed September 3, 1887. Serial No. 248,720.

To all whom iz? may concern:

Be it known that we, LOVANE MASON and CHARLES B. SHAFER, citizens ot theUnited States, residing at Gasport, in the county of Niagara and Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Crates;and we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawy ings, and to the letters and figures ofreference marked thereon,which form apart of this specitioation.

The object of our invention is to provide a light crate for thetransportation of fruit, 85e., said crate being suliciently strong andconstructed at such small cost as to be given away by the shipper.

The nature ofour invention will be described below, and pointed out inthe claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective, the cover removed. Fig. 2 isa plan view, the cover removed. Fig. 3 is a broken perspective of thecover. Fig. 4 is alongitudinal vertical section, the cover removed.

Like letters refer to like parts.

The material used is wooden stripping about oneeighth of an inch thick,and basswood will answer the purpose well. Vhere said stripping turns a.corner, it is cut or scored nearly through, so as to bend easily withoutbreaking or splitting, and where there are two or more thicknesses theyare held together by tacks, the points of which may be bent in.

A crate may be made up as follows: ll'he strip a forms a part of an end,A, of the box, is then bent at right angles and forinsaside, B, and isagain bent at right angles and extends half across the other end, A', ofthe box. Under the last-mentioned .bend of a the strip b extendsentirely across the end A of the box, is then bent at right anglesand'forms side B',

Y and is then bent again at right angles to overlap the iirstrnentionedbend of t and form a portion of the end A of the box. The bottom C isformed thus: Take a single strip equal to the length of the bottom andthe height of the two ends, cut the strip nearly through in twoplaces,which will form three sections, (see Fig.

(No model.)

4,) bend the end sections to a vertical position, and insert the wholeinside of a and b. The middle section will then form abottom proper, C,and the end sections inside linings, cl c, for the ends A A.

Below the center a wide re-eiiforcing-strip, D, extends down one sideunder the bottom and partly up the other side, the free ends of thisstrip being held by a wooden strapping, d, which also extends entirelyaround the crate. The cover Eis made of two strips, e e', one placedinside the other, the parts c2 ci being bent down to form sides andends. The said strips aretacked together and the free ends are held inplace by inside and outside wooden straps, ff.

A crate constructed as above will have two thicknesses at each end andan overlap from the side strip extending vabout one-half across eachend, which will give to a portion of said ends three thicknesses. Thesides below the ss.v

strap d are double, also the bottom, on account of strip D. The coverhas a double top and single sides and ends. Though the crate will belight it will have ample strength, and at the places where itis mostneeded. When the cover is fastened with basket-hooks or strings, itmakes aperfect handle to carryT by. The trade demands a gift-crate,77and our device meets the demand andatthe same time furnishes a cratestrong enough to transport fruit, e., to any distance. It will beunderstood that the crate is filled with wooden shelves and boxes, butit is not necessary to show them.

Having fully described our invention,what we claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent is 1. Thecombination, with the strippings a and b,each comprising an end and side portion, both side portions beinghorizontally overlapped, in full width upon opposite end portions tocover aboutone-half the width of the latter, of the stripping C,comprising a bottom portion and also two end portions extending upwardinside of the endl portions of a and b, and of a width substantiallyequal to that of the said end portions of a and 1J, as set forth.

2. In a crate, the combination, with the IOO strips a and b, bent toform the ends and sides In testimony-Whereofwe affix our signatures andterminating in end overlaps at opposite in presence of two Witnesses.

corners, of the bottom-forming strips C, hav- LOVANE MASON.

ing Vertical extensions or end linings, c, the CHARLES B. SHAFER. 5re-enforce or double bottom D, and the wooden Witnesses:

strap d, extending around the crate, as set DAN E. CHAPIN, forth. SAML.MEsLER.

